This paper examines the following behaviour of passenger car drivers behind different vehicle types to extend the understanding of psychological impacts of heavy vehicles. Video footage was collected on a four lane divided urban motorway section that provides access to the Port of Brisbane, Australia. There was a trend for passenger car drivers to increase their following times as the preceding vehicle size increased; however there was generally no statistically significant difference. Following behaviour was, statistically different between the left and right lanes. This research is expected to aid road authorities in deciding whether multi-combination vehicle (MCV) access is suitable to specific routes. The behaviour of surrounding passenger cars affects capacity through the headways they adopt when following a vehicle. If following gaps are larger behind MCVs such as B-Doubles, then vehicle capacity decreases. This reduction in capacity must be realised by the road authorities in the authorisation of MCV access. (Author/publisher)
Abstract